³And Balaam said to Balac: Stand a while by thy burnt offering, until I go, to see if perhaps the Lord will meet me, and whatsoever he shall command, I will speak to thee.

⁴And when he was gone with speed, God met him. And Balaam speaking to him, said: I have erected seven altars, and have laid on everyone a calf and a ram.

⁵And the Lord put the word in his mouth, and said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou speak.

⁶Returning he found Balac standing by his burnt offering, with all the princes of the Moabites:

⁷And taking up his parable, he said: Balac king of the Moabites hath brought me from Aram, from the mountains of the east: Come, said he, and curse Jacob: make haste and detest Israel.

⁸How shall I curse him, whom God hath not cursed? By what means should I detest him, whom the Lord detesteth not?

⁹I shall see him from the tops of the rocks, and shall consider him from the hills. This people shall dwell alone, and shall not be reckoned among the nations.

¹⁰Who can count the dust of Jacob, and know the number of the stock of Israel? Let my soul die the death of the just, and my last end be like to them.

¹¹And Balac said to Balaam: What is this that thou dost? I sent for thee to curse my enemies: and thou contrariwise blessest them.

¹²He answered him: Can I speak any thing else but what the Lord commandeth?

¹³Balac therefore said: Come with me to another place from whence thou mayest see part of Israel, and canst not see them all: curse them from thence.

¹⁴And when he had brought him to a high place, upon the top of mount Phasga, Balaam built seven altars, and laying on every one a calf and a ram,

¹⁵He said to Balac: Stand here by thy burnt offering while I go to meet him.

¹⁶And when the Lord had met him, and had put the word in his mouth, he said: Return to Balac, and thus shalt thou say to him.

¹⁷Returning he found him standing by his burnt sacrifice, and the princes of the Moabites with him. And Balac said to him: What hath the Lord spoken?

¹⁸But he taking up his parable, said: Stand, O Balac, and give ear: hear, thou son of Sephor:

¹⁹God is not a man, that he should lie, nor as the son of man, that he should be changed. Hath he said then, and will he not do? hath he spoken, and will he not fulfil?

²⁰I was brought to bless, the blessing I am not able to hinder.

²¹There is no idol in Jacob, neither is there an image god to be seen in Israel. The Lord his God is with him, and the sound of the victory of the king in him.

²²God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros.

²³There is no soothsaying in Jacob, nor divination in Israel. In their times it shall be told to Jacob and to Israel what God hath wrought.

²⁴Behold the people shall rise up as a lioness, and shall lift itself up as a lion: it shall not lie down till it devour the prey, and drink the blood of the slain.

²⁵And Balac said to Balaam: Neither curse, nor bless him.

²⁶And he said: Did I not tell thee, that whatsoever God should command me, that I would do?

²⁷And Balac said to him: Come and I will bring thee to another place; if peradventure it please God that thou mayest curse them from thence.

²⁸And when he had brought him upon the top of mount Phogor, which looketh towards the wilderness,

²⁹Balaam said to him: Build me here seven altars, and prepare as many calves, and the same number of rams.

³⁰Balac did as Balaam had said: and he laid on every altar, a calf and a ram.

Chapter 24

And when Balaam saw that it pleased the Lord that he should bless Israel, he went not as he had gone before, to seek divination: but setting his face towards the desert,

²And lifting up his eyes, he saw Israel abiding in their tents by their tribes: and the spirit of God rushing upon him,

³He took up his parable and said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man hath said, whose eye is stopped up:

⁴The bearer of the words of God hath said, he that hath beheld the vision of the Almighty, he that falleth, and so his eyes are opened:

⁵How beautiful are thy tabernacles O Jacob, and thy tents, O Israel!

⁶As woody valleys, as watered gardens near the rivers, as tabernacles which the Lord hath pitched, as cedars by the waterside.

⁷Water shall flow out of his bucket, and his seed shall be in many waters. For Agag his king shall be removed, and his kingdom shall be taken away.

⁸God hath brought him out of Egypt, whose strength is like to the rhinoceros. They shall devour the nations that are his enemies, and break their bones, and pierce them with arrows.

⁹Lying down he hath slept as a lion, and as a lioness, whom none shall dare to rouse. He that blesseth thee, shall also himself be blessed: he that curseth thee shall be reckoned accursed.

¹⁰And Balac being angry against Balaam, clapped his hands together and said: I called thee to curse my enemies, and thou on the contrary hast blessed them three times.

¹¹Return to thy place. I had determined indeed greatly to honour thee, but the Lord hath deprived thee of the honour designed for thee.

¹²Balaam made answer to Balac: Did I not say to thy messengers, whom thou sentest to me:

¹³If Balac would give me his house full of silver and gold, I cannot go beyond the word of the Lord my God, to utter any thing of my own head either good or evil: but whatsoever the Lord shall say, that I will speak?

¹⁴But yet going to my people, I will give thee counsel, what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.

¹⁵Therefore taking up his parable, again he said: Balaam the son of Beor hath said: The man whose eye is stopped up, hath said:

¹⁶The hearer of the words of God hath said, who knoweth the doctrine of the Highest, and seeth the visions of the Almighty, who falling hath his eyes opened:

¹⁷I shall see him, but not now: I shall behold him, but not near. A STAR SHALL RISE out of Jacob and a sceptre shall spring up from Israel: and shall strike the chiefs of Moab, and shall waste all the children of Seth

¹⁸And he shall possess Idumea: the inheritance of Seir shall come to their enemies, but Israel shall do manfully.

¹⁹Out of Jacob shall he come that shall rule, and shall destroy the remains of the city.

²⁰And when he saw Amalec, he took up his parable, and said: Amalec the beginning of nations, whose latter ends shall be destroyed.

²¹He saw also the Cinite: and took up his parable, and said: Thy habitation indeed is strong: but though thou build thy nest in a rock,

²²And thou be chosen of the stock of Cin, how long shalt thou be able to continue? For Assur shall take thee captive.

²³And taking up his parable, again he said: Alas, who shall live when God shall do these things?

²⁴They shall come in galleys from Italy, they shall overcome the Assyrians, and shall waste the Hebrews, and at the last they themselves also shall perish.

²⁵And Balaam rose, and returned to his place: Balac also returned the way that he came.

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